Nearly 55 000 foreigners were awaiting Bulgarian citizenship.

In the past four years 20 000 people received Bulgarian passports, Dnevnik newspaper reported, quoting data of the Justice Ministry.

The reason behind the large number of applications awaiting approval was slow procedures. Some of the applications dated back to 2003, Dnevnik reported.

Most of the people applying for citizenship came from Moldova, nearly 30 000 people.

The Justice Ministry said that a boom in the number of applications was registered in 2004 when the number of people awaiting citizenship nearly doubled.

The number one reason given for requesting citizenship was Bulgarian descend. A number of candidates presented documents proving that at least one of their parents was a Bulgarian citizen.